Connecticut Correction Officer Pleads Guilty to Federal Drug Charge

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Arcolain Fountain, 46, of East Haven, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before United States Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez in Hartford to one count of attempting to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Fountain was a correction officer at Cheshire Correctional Institution in Cheshire. On July 17, 2012, Fountain met with an undercover officer with the Statewide Narcotics Task Force at a commuter lot off Interstate 84 in Southington to accept what he believed were 90 oxycodone pills. Fountain was planning to smuggle the oxycodone pills into the Cheshire Correctional Institute and deliver them to an inmate housed there. During the meeting with the undercover officer, Fountain also accepted $450 in cash and a quantity of Ecstasy pills as payment for delivering the oxycodone to the inmate. Fountain was arrested at that time.

State charges against Fountain have been pending since his arrest.

Fountain is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Alvin W. Thompson on March 12, 2013, at which time Fountain faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $1 million.

This matter is being investigated by the Statewide Narcotics Task Force, the Connecticut Department of Correction and the Cheshire Police Department. Investigative assistance has also been provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Michael W. Ahearn.